Pei Wei Zesty Thai Lime and Chili Chicken, Shrimp, and Salad

Pei Wei’s newest entree — the zesty Thai Lime and Chili Chicken, Shrimp, or Salad — is a delicious, flavor-packed meal for anyone in search of sweet sustenance with a little kick to it.

The ingredients include cashews, red onions, snap peas, Fresno chile peppers, bean sprouts, carrots, cucumbers, mint, cilantro, rice, and of course, your choice of tender chicken or juicy shrimp.

This assortment of delicious ingredients is doused in a sesame ginger vinaigrette, and topped with the new Thai lime pineapple chile sauce, which makes for the perfect combination of sweet and spicy.

Be warned: this dish is not for the typical spicy food wimp, like myself. Medium wings at Native New Yorker are a little bit much for me, so anything spicy usually raises a red flag for me. This something you would also find on P.F. Changs happy hour menu which is the parent brand for Pei Wei. So, I asked the employees just how spicy the dish was. They don’t offer a mild version, since the spice is inherent in their special sauce. When I asked just how spicy it was, they told me it was hotter than the Pei Wei Spicy, mild, which I often get, but definitely not as bad as the regular version.

So, I took a gamble, and I ended up loving it. I chose the chicken as my entree, and though I’m sure the shrimp is just as delectable, I was extremely pleased with my choice. Tender, juicy chunks of chicken with a slightly crunchy outer coating exploded with flavor as I bit into them.

Combining the delicious, pineapple-chile coated chicken with an assortment of cooked vegetables was just enough for me to take the edge off of the spice.

The sauce, which offers a diverse range of tastes from an initially sweet flavor (the pineapple part of the name) to a spicy bite (the chile) that packs a punch. The afterbite, however, is what manages to keep you coming back for more.

Take this irresistibly tender chicken and combine it with a unique flavor and a mixture of delicious cooked vegetables, and you have the perfect meal.